The recreational use of cannabis has sharply increased in recent years in parallel with its legalization and decriminalization in several countries. Commonly, the traditional cannabis has been replaced by potent synthetic cannabinoids and cannabimimetics in various forms. Despite overwhelming public perception of the safety of these substances, an increasing number of serious cardiovascular adverse events have been reported in temporal relation to recreational cannabis use. These have included sudden cardiac death, vascular (coronary, cerebral and peripheral) events, arrhythmias and stress cardiomyopathy among others...

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are commonly abused by adolescents with reported past year (2013) use in high school students between 3 and 10%. Standard adolescent postmortem toxicology does not include routine SC analysis, and thus, the true burden of fatalities related to SCs is unknown. A retrospective case review of two cases included scene investigation, interviews, autopsy, and toxicology. SCs were confirmed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Review of the eight adolescent SC-associated fatalities in the literature revealed five of eight cases had no other discernible cause of death on autopsy...

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs), commonly known by the street name "Spice," are designer drugs of abuse that mimic the psychoactive effects of marijuana. Intentional SC use has resulted in multiple toxicities (1,2), but little is known about occupational SC exposure. After a federal agency's law enforcement personnel in Nevada reported irritability and feeling "high" after raiding illegal SC laboratories and processing seized SCs, a request for a health hazard evaluation was made by the agency to CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 2014 to evaluate agents' occupational SC exposures...

Four deaths that seemed to have been caused by a designer drug occurred within a 3-week period in Sendai, Japan. In each case, the decedent possessed the same sachet, labeled "Heart Shot BLACK", which contained a dried plant material with an aromatic scent. It was revealed in our analysis that the product contained a synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist, 5-fluoro ADB (methyl 2-[1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide]-3,3-dimethylbutanoate, also known as 5-fluoro MDMB-PINACA), which is now classified as a restricted designer drug in Japan after it caused several casualties...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Synthetic cannabinoids (often sold as Spice or K2) have become a very popular alternative to cannabis due to the easy access and portrayed safety. Controlled studies on the behavioral effects of synthetic cannabinoids are currently lacking, which hampers risk assessments of these compounds. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: This is a first attempt to assess the influence of a synthetic cannabinoid, JWH-018, on neurocognition and subjective experience in humans after controlled administration...

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are a significant public health concern given their widespread use and severe effects associated with intoxication. However, there is a paucity of controlled human studies investigating the behavioral and physiological effects and pharmacokinetics of these compounds. Designing a reliable method to administer consistent, concentration-dependent synthetic cannabinoids is an integral component of controlled study of these compounds. Further, optimizing methods to assess the parent compounds and metabolites in plasma is critical in order to be able to establish their pharmacokinetics after administration...

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Novel synthetic cannabinoid compounds continue to appear in the market advertised as legal alternatives to marijuana and the older synthetic cannabinoid compounds which are now controlled substances. Most of these newer compounds have been found to act at CB1 receptors, so the purpose of this study was to study the abuse liability of these compounds. METHODS: Five of these compounds (BB-22, FUB-PB-22, 5F-AMB, NM2201, and MAB-CHMINACA) were tested for their ability to produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ(9)-THC) in rats...

BACKGROUND: There is considerable public and political interest in the use of cannabis products for medical purposes. METHODS: The task force of the European Pain Federation (EFIC) conducted a survey with its national chapters representatives on the status of approval of all types of cannabis-based medicines, the covering of costs and the availability of a position paper of a national medical association on the use of medical cannabis for chronic pain and for symptom control in palliative/supportive care...

The use of synthetic cannabinoids (SC) has been widespread in certain groups of drug users for many years. In the scientific literature many intoxication cases and a number of fatalities after the use of synthetic cannabinoids were reported. In this paper three death cases are described with involvement of the synthetic cannabinoids 5F-PB-22, AB-CHMINACA, and 5F-ADB. The three cases occurred in the eastern region of Germany, which is known as a region of high methamphetamine abuse. All decedents were male, between 25 and 41 years old, and had a known history of drug use...

Analytical strategies for detecting drugs in biological samples rely on information on metabolism and elimination. 5F-PY-PICA belongs to the group of synthetic cannabinoids that are known to undergo excretion into the bile. The aims of this study were the in vitro identification of metabolites of 5F-PY-PICA and to determine which analytical targets are excreted into the bile and urine. Metabolites identified after incubation of 5F-PY-PICA with pooled human liver microsomes (pHLM), pooled human hepatocytes (pHH), or suspended and sandwich-cultured rat hepatocytes (SCRH)...

BACKGROUND: Some cannabinoids, a family of compounds derived from Cannabis sativa (marijuana), have previously shown vasodilator effects in several studies, a feature that makes them suitable for the generation of a potential treatment for hypertension. The mechanism underlying this vasodilator effect in arteries is still controversial. In this report, we explored how the synthetic cannabinoids ACPA (CB1-selective agonist) and JWH-133 (CB2-selective agonist) regulate the vascular tone of rat superior mesenteric arteries...

BACKGROUND: Electronic Dance Music (EDM) party attendees are often polysubstance users and are at high risk for use of new psychoactive substances (NPS). We sought to identify patterns of use of common illegal drugs among EDM party attendees, sociodemographic correlates, and use of NPS as a function of patterns of use of more common drugs to inform prevention and harm reduction. METHOD: Using time-space-sampling, 1045 individuals aged 18-40 were surveyed entering EDM parties in New York City...

Synthetic cannabinoids are a group of new psychoactive compounds (NPS) that act as agonists at the cannabinoid receptor. First reported in 2008, they currently represent one of the largest groups of NPS that are monitored by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Five samples (4 from the European RESPONSE project and one from daily casework) containing different synthetic cannabinoids were analyzed by a complex of analytical methods including gas chromatography-electron ionization mass spectrometry (GC-EI-MS), liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR)...

Diversion of synthetic cannabinoids from the lab to drugs of abuse has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. Moreover, as earlier synthetic cannabinoids were banned, manufacturers introduced a new supply of novel compounds to serve as replacements. Hence, the chemical diversity of synthetic cannabinoid analogs has also rapidly increased. The present study examined 8 new synthetic cannabinoids: AM-1220, AM-2232, AM-2233, AM-679, EAM-2201, JWH-210, JHW-251, and MAM-2201. Each compound was assessed for binding affinity and functional activation of CB1 and CB2 receptors, and pharmacological equivalence with Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in THC drug discrimination...

The mechanism of action of cannabidiol (CBD), the main non-psychotropic component of Cannabis sativa L., is not completely understood. First assumed that the compound was acting via cannabinoid CB2 receptors (CB2Rs) it is now suggested that it interacts with non-cannabinoid G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs); however, CBD does not bind with high affinity to the orthosteric site of any GPCR. To search for alternative explanations, we tested CBD as a potential allosteric ligand of CB2R. Radioligand and non-radioactive homogeneous binding, intracellular cAMP determination and ERK1/2 phosphorylation assays were undertaken in heterologous systems expressing the human version of CB2R...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: We assessed synthetic cannabinoid (SC) outbreaks from 2011-2012 and 2015. METHODS: The National Poison Data System was utilized to collect reports of SC adverse effects in New York State from 2011-2012 and 2015 (N = 713). RESULTS: Cases from 2015 were more likely to be admitted to intensive care units and had different symptoms than those in 2011-2012. We identified two new SC structural classes from 2015 samples...

The Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is issuing this temporary scheduling order to schedule the synthetic cannabinoid, methyl 2-(1-(4-fluorobenzyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamido)-3-methylbutanoate [FUB-AMB, MMB-FUBINACA, AMB-FUBINACA], and its optical, positional, and geometric isomers, salts, and salts of isomers into schedule I. This action is based on a finding by the Administrator that the placement of this synthetic cannabinoid into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety...

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) has been shown to be of great importance in the regulation of numerous physiological and pathological processes. To date, two Class A G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been discovered and validated as the main therapeutic targets of this system: the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), which is the most abundant neuromodulatory receptor in the brain, and the cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2), predominantly found in the immune system among other organs and tissues. Endogenous cannabinoid receptor ligands (endocannabinoids) and the enzymes involved in their synthesis, cell uptake, and degradation have also been identified as part of the ECS...